Recent News

Bush, Rubio Both Show Potential for Growth in Support

At the early stage of a contest like the 2016 Republican nomination fight, where there are numerous strong and plausible candidates, just being thought well of by voters may be more important than being their first choice. The Wall Street Journal today reports on the results of their poll (conducted with NBC News) showing that by this measure, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and current Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio are faring well, with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee not ... Read More >>

Insiders: Marco Rubio has an Obama problem

A majority of early-state insiders say that Marco Rubio’s lack of national experience will prove problematic in the GOP primary after seven years of President Barack Obama, who was also a first-term senator when he ran.

Poll: GOP tossup in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania

Republican voters remain split in the key swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. But with Democrats, Hillary Clinton remains the overwhelming favorite.

Why Jeb Bush’s Online Campaign Was Quiet

If you searched for “Jeb Bush” using Google last week, you would have found thousands of results but no advertisement at the top directing readers to his organization. That kind of ad is what you saw when you did a web search for Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator, or Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. Because there was no Jeb Bush campaign website, the top non-news result in Google for “Jeb Bush” was a Wikipedia page about him.

There may be no easier way to flummox operatives or journalists who insist on the importance of “data” and “analytics” in politics than asking them to explain exactly what the words mean to them. Today there is data generated by every arm of a campaign, and opportunities to analyze nearly all of it. Which of those challenges a campaign tries to take on with its limited time and resources can illuminate not only its technological fetishes but its view of the race: What innovations does it need to undertake to win?

Head-to-head matchups between the top Democratic and Republican candidates don’t mean much this point, but they can provide some clues about which candidates have both sufficient national name recognition and positive perceptions at this point. Bloomberg Politics provides analysis of recent polls in three key “swing” states showing three Republicans, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and current U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, to be competitive with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

Rubio, Bush, Paul Are Clinton’s Top Opponents ... Read More >>